During his first term, President-elect Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, imposed tough economic sanctions on Tehran, and ordered the killing of the mastermind of the Revolutionary Guard’s foreign operations, Gen. Qasem Soleimani. Last Friday, the Justice Department revealed details of an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump before the last presidential election.

But despite this fraught history between the two countries, many former officials, experts and even newspapers in Iran have publicly called on the government to improve relations with Trump after his landslide election victory, according to the New York Times.

For example, the Iranian newspaper Shargh published an editorial saying that Iran’s new, more moderate president, Masoud Pezeshkian, should “avoid the mistakes of the past and adopt a pragmatic and multidimensional policy.”

Many in Pezeshkian’s government agree with that view, according to five Iranian officials who asked The New York Times not to publish their names.

Officials said Trump likes to make deals where others have failed, and his huge dominance in the Republican Party could give any potential deal more staying power. That could give a chance for some kind of permanent deal with the United States, they said.

Trump displays a memorandum he signed to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal on May 8, 2018 (AP)

For his part, one of the prominent politicians, the former political advisor to the Iranian government, Hamid Aboutalebi, wrote in an open letter to the Iranian president: “Do not miss this historic opportunity to change relations between Iran and the United States.”

Abu Taleb advised Pezeshkian to congratulate Trump on winning the elections and to communicate with him in a new tone, confirming that his country seeks to follow a practical policy that looks forward to a better future with the United States.

Iran will seek to achieve whatever serves its “interests,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani was quoted as saying by the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) on Tuesday, in response to a question about the possibility of holding direct talks with the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

However, the crucial decisions in Tehran are made by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who banned negotiations with Trump during his first term.

Experts say that even if Pezeshkian wanted to negotiate with Trump, he would have to get Khamenei's approval.

Openness towards Trump

Iran showed some openness to Trump on Saturday, calling on the US president-elect to adopt new policies toward it, after Washington accused Tehran of involvement in a plot to assassinate him. Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif urged Trump to “change” the “maximum pressure” policy he pursued with Tehran during his first term.

“Trump must show that he is not following the wrong policies of the past,” Zarif told reporters. Trump said after casting his vote last week that he “does not seek to harm Iran.”

"My conditions are very easy," he added. "They cannot have nuclear weapons. I want them to be a very successful country."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Thursday that Trump's victory represents "an opportunity to review and reconsider Washington's previous incorrect approaches."

For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Iran respects the choice of the American people in electing their president, and that the path forward for Iran and the United States begins with mutual “respect” and “building trust.”

"Negotiating with Trump is treason"

Negotiating with Trump would be a political challenge for the new Iranian government, said conservative analyst Reza Salehi in Tehran.

Conservatives have already expressed their dismay at the prospect, saying that any negotiation with Trump would be a “betrayal of General Qassem Soleimani,” whose assassination the president-elect ordered in 2020.

Hamshahri, a conservative newspaper run by Tehran’s municipal government, ran front-page pictures of Trump in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs, with the caption: “The killer is back.” However, Salehi said: “I oppose this position and say that Trump will benefit Iran compared to his predecessor.”

"He's interested in making deals; he's interested in ending wars, and he's against starting new ones," he added.

The former US envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, during the first Trump administration, told CNN on Thursday that the president-elect “has no interest in regime change in Iran” but that he “also believes that the primary driver of instability in the Middle East is the Iranian regime.”

Policies that please Iran

Many of Trump’s stated foreign policy goals — ending the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, ending the war in Ukraine, and an “America First” agenda — appeal to Iran, the five Iranian officials told The New York Times.

They pointed out that ending the wars in Gaza and Lebanon could help avoid a wider war between Israel and Iran, which supports Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Ending the war in Ukraine could also ease pressure on Iran to supply Russia with weapons.

Trump's "America First" domestic policy may mean that she will take less interest in the affairs of other countries and focus more on her own domestic affairs.

“The American people, including most Muslims, have spoken loudly and clearly to reject a shameful year of American complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the massacre in Lebanon,” Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote to Trump on Twitter a few days ago.

He added: "We hope that the next administration led by Trump and DeVance will stand against the war as it pledged, and will take into account the clear lesson provided by the American voter on the necessity of ending wars and preventing new ones."

For his part, former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi said in an interview from Tehran that his advice is to “turn the fear of Trump’s threats into a good opportunity to improve diplomatic relations with him.”

"Trump likes to take credit for resolving crises, and one of the main crises now is the crisis between Iran and America," he said.

Abtahi stressed that there are two competing strategies under discussion in Iranian policy circles: one that calls for Iran to move forward defiantly and strengthen its proxy militias in the Middle East, to deter the United States and Israel, and the other that calls for negotiating with Trump.

Iranian analyst Rahman Ghahramanpour said that Tehran does not have many options.

“Maintaining the status quo with the United States for another four years is unsustainable,” he continued. “The economy is deteriorating under sanctions and mismanagement, inflation is soaring, and domestic discontent remains high.”

"We don't want more sanctions, more instability. But at the same time, the comprehensive agreement with Trump must be made in a way that saves our face domestically. This will be the biggest challenge," Ghahramanpour added.